1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

ICE agents arrived in Maine this week. One took pictures of a legal observer’s car, prompting her to remind him that it is legal to record their actions and to ask why he was taking her information. He answered: “‘Cause we have a nice little database and now you’re considered a domestic terrorist.” It feels like the world is finally waking up to some reality. We wait for the kind of spell-breaking moment that finally broke Joe McCarthy’s power. And what broke McCarthy’s power and finally sent him back under the rock where he belonged was one person deciding not to play the game anymore. The person that broke McCarthy had had enough. Enough of dancing around reality. Enough of pandering to get along. Enough of propping up a facade that no one liked but everyone was willing to go along with to preserve the status quo and/or their own place in it. Perhaps unwillingly complicit, but complicit nonetheless. It took courage to speak up. To speak out. It’s a hard thing to deliberately put yourself in the path of potential social condemnation. But it can happen. We see it with the many GOP politicians who have been shunned by their party by speaking uncomfortable truths. Who have lost their political careers in service to their country. Who have been portrayed as traitors. As lunatics. But continue to fight for America over their own self-interest. We see it with career civil servants. Who have continued to speak out when faced with a choice between careers or the truth. Destroying their lives in the process. We see it in the cold-water-in-the-face speech by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at Davos this past week. He presented blunt language that provided the final evidence that the United States has jumped the shark. He told the world it is time to stop playing games and look at the truth of things as they actually are. And to stop being part of the problem that keeps playing the same old games expecting a different result. In short, to stand up and finally say ‘Enough.’ He pointed out that a destructive narrative is only sustained by those willing to be complicit. Even when they know it to be wrong. It was a sad day in Davos for the US. Because our president is one of the main reasons such a speech by Mr. Carney was necessary. America too has had enough. We the people have had enough. Look to the streets across the country. Look at the people you see protesting. Calling out injustice. Showing you what they believe in. They are not terrorists. They are a citizenry trying to bring our country back to sanity. Back to humanity. Back to an America we were raised to believe it. What will it take for my elected officials to do the same? Break the cycle. Wake up. Snap out of it. Look around you. Face the reality of what is happening in America. And say ‘Enough!’